University-educated Laura Johnson, 20, chauffeured the group through London on August 8 in her black Smart car.
As they cruised around the capital, her passengers leapt from the car clad in hooded tops, bandanas and balaclavas to loot.
She set out to deliver a phone charger to her friend Emmanuel Okubote. The 20-year-old is a convicted cocaine dealer and thief, known as T-Man.
Johnson told cops the when they met in Catford, south London, he jumped in with three others and she was told to drive from place to place as chaos spread.
She claimed she had never met the other three individuals and that every time she stopped they looted and robbed people, including fellow looters, at knifepoint.
The former grammar school pupil is studying English and Italian at university.
Her parents, Robert and Lindsay Johnson, own a direct marketing business called Avongate Ltd.
They sat at the back of the court as Martin McCartney, defending, described how their daughter led a “privileged life with a caring family”.
He said Johnson acted in a “moment of madness”, adding: “This was completely out of character.
“It is not beyond the realms of reason that the way she acted might have been affected by the emotional turmoil she was in.”
During the trial, jurors were told Johnson had previously tried to kill herself while struggling with mental health issues.
The student broke up with her boyfriend last April triggering depression, anxiety and suicidal thoughts, the court heard.
She also told the court that almost a month before the riots she was raped by two men at a boy’s house but did not tell anyone at first.
Today at Inner London Crown Court, the University of Exeter undergraduate, from Orpington, Kent, was caged for two years for one count of burglary and two years for one of handling stolen goods, to run concurrently.
Johnson and her accomplice Christopher Edwards, 17, were both convicted of burgling a Comet store at the Greenwich Retail Park and stealing electrical goods.
Edwards can be named today after a ban prohibiting the publication of his name was lifted.
The teenager – who previously admitted burglary by stealing alcohol and cigarettes from a BP garage in Charlton – was sentenced to 12 months in a young offenders institution.
Judge Patricia Lees told them: “Your actions added to the overall lawlessness that threatened to overwhelm the forces of law and order.
“It is clear that these offences were committed as part of one of the most serious criminal enterprises which occurred during the civil disturbances.”
Turning to Johnson, she added: "You went out willingly that night knowing what you were about to get involved in and I have no doubt on everything I have heard about your behaviour last summer, excited by what you perceived to be the thrill of Emmanuel Okubote’s world.”
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